Committees

Introduction

As with other deliberative assemblies, the House of Commons has taken advantage of the special characteristics of committees to carry out functions that can be better performed in smaller groups, including the hearing of witnesses and the detailed consideration of legislation, estimates and technical matters.

Committee work provides detailed information to parliamentarians on issues of concern to the electorate and often generates important public debate. In addition, because committees interact directly with the public, they provide an immediate and visible conduit between elected representatives and Canadians.

During the tenure of Speaker Scheer, committees experimented with new mechanisms to facilitate their work, specifically in relation to the study of legislation. For example, during the study of a particularly large budget bill, the Standing Committee on Finance adopted a motion inviting other standing committees to consider the subject matter of specific sections of the bill and to recommend amendments to the Committee. On another occasion, in an effort to facilitate the participation of independent Members at the committee stage of a bill, the Finance Committee adopted a motion by which independent Members could participate and present amendments during clause-by-clause study of the bill. In the Second Session of the Forty-First Parliament, all but two standing committees adopted a similar motion, formalizing a means by which independent Members could participate in the legislative process in committee.

These new procedures were not unanimously supported and the Speaker was called upon to rule on their admissibility following points of order. Speaker Scheer made reference to the fluidity of practice in committee and, except in one case, declined to interfere in the internal affairs of committees unless a report from the committee in question was presented to the House, as per established practice.

This chapter also includes two other cases in which the Speaker was called upon to intervene in committee matters: one concerning the use of the “previous question” during debate on a bill being studied by the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security; and another concerning a motion adopted in the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics that, a Member argued, was beyond the committee’s mandate and that violated the sub judice convention and the constitutional separation of the legislative and judicial branches. In each instance, Speaker Scheer again declined to interfere in the matter as no report from either committee was presented to the House. This chapter also includes a statement by the Chair of Committees of the Whole outlining the procedures for the consideration of a bill in Committee of the Whole since it would be the first occasion for the newer Members to participate in such a debate.